


Companion: Ten Scenes

by abriata



Series: Let the Future In [3]
Category: Social Network (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-12
Updated: 2012-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-29 09:28:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/318384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abriata/pseuds/abriata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are two kinds of secrets: those you keep and those you spill. Ten scenes from Eduardo's POV from/around Let the Future In.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Companion: Ten Scenes

**Author's Note:**

> For Kay. These sort of do require you to have read Let the Future In; some of them won't make much sense at all otherwise.

**1988 (Kept)**

Mark is younger than Eduardo.

Eduardo's mom has explained this carefully a couple of times, because she uses it as the reason for everything Mark does and why Eduardo should be nice to him.

Mark refuses to eat something for lunch, which Eduardo hasn't done since last week, and Eduardo isn't supposed to tease, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.

Mark throws a fit, which Eduardo hasn't done for at least a month, and Eduardo is supposed to be patient, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.

Mark breaks Eduardo's toy by throwing it down the stairs, which Eduardo has never done at all, and Eduardo is supposed to be nice, because Mark is younger than Eduardo.

"You're a baby," Eduardo says. "Mamã says so."

"Am not," Mark says.

"Uh huh," Eduardo says.

"So are you too," Mark says.

"Not as much as you," Eduardo says. "You're not even in _school_."

Eduardo thinks Mark is going to start crying or at least go play by himself the way he always does when Eduardo is right. Instead, Mark sits straight up, eyes wide and blue - Eduardo hadn't seen eyes like Mark's before, and his mamã said it was rude to stare but Eduardo always watches Mark's face for when his eyes look like this - and says, "You go to _school_?"

"Duh," Eduardo says. "All day."

"I thought you went to daycare," Mark says. "Like me."

"I'm not a baby," Eduardo says triumphantly.

"What do you do?" Mark demands. "Where do you go? Are there lots of other kids there?"

"I dunno," Eduardo says, blinking.

"Tell me," Mark whines.

"There's lots of people," Eduardo says. "Like at the fair. Only there aren't a lot of moms and dads."

"Who watches the you?" Mark asks suspiciously.

"Teachers," Eduardo says. "They're like moms."

Mark keeps asking questions, and Eduardo warms up to it, telling Mark about the cafeteria and lining up to go to the bathroom and reading, and he proves he's learning to read by pulling out one of his books, but Mark is stupid and already knows how to read and he says Eduardo is doing it wrong.

So Eduardo tells him about the big kids.

"And they can do anything they want to you," he finishes, and watches Mark's lip wobble.

"I don't want to go to school," Mark says.

"It's scary," Eduardo says.

Of course, Mark figures out less than a year later that Eduardo wasn't telling the truth, that Eduardo didn't tell him about recess or naptime or snacks. But Eduardo keeps those best parts a secret all summer because Mark doesn't know anything, and this just proves it.

 **1990 (Shared)**

Eduardo stole his father's watch.

Mark takes the news with little interest. "You can't wear it," he says, sniffing. He has a cold and Eduardo hasn't seen him for a week because his mom wouldn't let him come over because she didn't want him getting sick, too.

"I just wanted to _see_ it," Eduardo says. "He never lets me look at them."

"Cause he doesn't want you to break them," Mark says.

"And I'm not going to break it," Eduardo says.

"He's gonna get mad when he finds out you stole it," Mark says. "He probably didn't want you to steal it, either."

"You have to help me," Eduardo says.

"No," Mark says.

"I have to hide it here!" Eduardo says. "Until I can sneak it back home and hide it somewhere so it looks like he lost it."

Mark scowls. "Hide it in your room."

"They're looking in my room," Eduardo whines. "They can't look here."

"Fine," Mark says, after a few thoughtful sniffs. "Leave your stupid watch here."

 **1992 (Kept)**

Mark's little sister has a toy he really, really hates. He always steals it from her, taking the batteries out so it can't make the repetitive, ear-shattering noises.

Eduardo always steals it back, putting the batteries back in and handing it over, because little sister is older brother's responsibility, and Eduardo doesn't have one of his own.

He tells Mark he thinks it's Mark's mom that's giving the toy back each time, just a little white lie.

 **1996 (Shared)**

Mark just convinced his parents to let him have their old computer. They made him promise to let his sisters still use it - which he won't, Eduardo can't believe Mark's mom believed him when he said that - and then Mark's dad had someone come and put a phone jack in and now Mark has _internet_. In his _bedroom_.

"There's a site I heard about at school," Eduardo says.

Mark is grumpy and reluctant to let Eduardo at the computer, but Eduardo shoves him aside and types in the URL his classmate had scribbled on a note for him.

"This is like those magazines," Mark says.

"They're all naked," Eduardo promises.

"Wow," Mark says, and he and Eduardo spend the next two hours staring obsessively at girls while Eduardo congratulates himself on officially earning the title of Best Friend Ever.

 **1997 (Kept)**

In Eduardo's first month of high school, he gets paired up with an older boy for a project in the BPA club. His partner's name is Jason, and he's a senior. He tells Eduardo on the first day that he's adopted two other boys before him and promises, with a grin, to help Eduardo make high school the best years of his life.

While Eduardo secretly hopes that won't be true - he has high hopes for college, at the very least - he's taken in by Jason's easy-going demeanor and how clever he is. He can convince any teacher or student to do things for him, just by joking and touching their shoulder and being kind.

Mark, Eduardo is pretty sure, would hate him, and Eduardo is more determined than ever to keep him as a friend. It seems only fair that if Eduardo has to spend all his time with Natalie, Mark should have to put up with some of Eduardo's friends, too.

He tells Mark about Jason, a little, until Mark says, "You sound like you're in love with him, Wardo."

Mark's just trying to get him to shut up, but Eduardo freezes.

It's not love - it's not as if Eduardo is one of those girls who scribble their boyfriend's name on the inside flap of all their binders - but Mark is right. He's got a crush on Jason, and if he doesn't watch his mouth everyone will figure it out.

He watches what he says for weeks, until he's weeded every mention of BPA out of conversation with his parents. Mark doesn't notice anything, but everyone else remarks on it.

Jason finds Eduardo in the library one afternoon, skipping History (with permission) to work on a project for English.

"You stopped eating lunch with us," he says, casually pushing aside Eduardo's books. "Are you avoiding us?"

"No," Eduardo mutters. "I've been sitting with some other friends."

"Cool," Jason says. "Hey, we should talk about the business competition at the end of the semester."

"Yeah?" Eduardo says.

"I want you to be on our team," Jason says. "You'll be the youngest, freshmen usually don't make it, but you're better than almost anyone else at school, especially at the math."

"And you're really bad at math," Eduardo says.

"Hey," Jason says mildly.

Eduardo agrees to join their team, though it's the last thing he should do.

\---

Mark says, "You're always busy."

"I'm in clubs," Eduardo says. "They take up my time."

"I know," Mark says.

"Besides," Eduardo says grumpily, "you're always on the computer anyway." Mark honestly is. His father has been getting him private tutoring and advanced classes, and Mark starts talking about things sometimes that Eduardo has no hope of understanding.

"Are you working with _Jason_?" Mark says snottily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eduardo asks defensively.

"Just ask him out already," Mark says, rolling his eyes. "Or kiss him or something."

"Mark!" Eduardo says.

"You're a wimp," Mark says.

Eduardo slides down the bed, sitting on the floor with his knees against his chest. "You don't care?"

"That you're a wimp?" Mark says. "I'm used to it."

"That I like guys," Eduardo says.

"You don't like guys," Mark says. "You like Jason."

"No," Eduardo says. "I really do like guys."

Mark's fingers slow, and finally he stops typing, tilting his head at the computer screen. Eduardo holds his breath, fighting the urge to hide his face.

"No," Mark says.

"Oh," Eduardo says, when nothing else is forthcoming. "Okay."

Mark hums, and Eduardo slowly straightens his legs.

\---

Nothing happens with Jason, of course. They place second in the competition, and Jason holds onto Eduardo's shoulder, reassuring him that he'll have time to win the next year and the two after that. Eduardo nods along, and then the club president, a girl named Melissa, taps Eduardo's shoulder and says, "Can I steal Jason for a second?"

When they come back Jason has his arm around Melanie's waist and she's blushing. Everyone else in the room teases them until their club sponsor, the calculus teacher, tells everyone to cut it out.

"He was a senior," Mark says. "Are you really surprised?"

"Shut up," Eduardo says.

"You'll be less disappointed if you keep your expectations realistic," Mark says.

"I never expected--" Eduardo says, and then, "No, you're right. My fault."

He's finishing an English essay on Mark's floor. Mark never has any homework, and he's doing something on the computer - probably something dangerous and illegal like hacking into the Pentagon or foreign bank accounts; Eduardo makes sure to never ask. It's been almost an hour when Mark says, "Sorry," quiet and half not-paying-attention, but Eduardo looks at the back of his head and says, "Thank you."

He thinks he could tell Mark right now about Jason catching him in the clubroom right before the competition, pushing him up against the wall and kissing him, holding his neck and calling him pretty. Eduardo knows he probably said the exact same thing to Melissa, which is the worst part.

Mark is a good friend, under everything; he'd call Jason bad things, and offer to ruin his life - he might even succeed, which is a development in this computer thing that frightens Eduardo and amuses him beyond belief, often at the same time - and he'll know just how pathetic Eduardo is, that his first kiss wasn't with Chloe Robertson at middle school graduation after all.

So Eduardo doesn't say anything, and when Mark's mom knocks on the door a few minutes later they go down for dinner.

 **1998 (Shared)**

Mark disappears for two weeks at the beginning of every summer as his parents drag he and his sisters to visit their family on the other end of the state. Eduardo suffers through his absence, watching TV and reading books and staying hidden in his room. His mother says he's moping, but really it's self-preservation - if he comes out of his room, she makes him run errands with her and do chores around the house.

"You're so lucky," Mark gripes his first night back. Eduardo is helping him unpack, shoving all the dirty clothes into the hamper. Mark is setting his laptop - brand new, a gift for his birthday less than a month ago - on his desk and hooking everything back up.

"I'm lucky," Eduardo says. "Why?"

"You don't have to see your family every three months," Mark says. "With their hugging and kissing and stupid invasive questions."

"They're your family," Eduardo says. "They care about you."

"They're a waste of time," Mark says. "They're annoying and rude and judgmental and all they ever do is gossip about each other. And I have three sisters already, that's enough company without throwing twenty cousins into the mix. We waste so much money on it every year - we have to go to New Hampshire, we have to go to Connecticut, god forbid anyone move to Alaska because the whole family would probably decide to have the reunion there--"

"Shut up, Mark," Eduardo snaps.

Mark blinks. "What?"

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" Eduardo says. "You get to see your family all the time. I haven't seen anyone but my parents since I was _eleven_. None of my cousins even _know_ me."

"So," Mark mutters.

"So shut up," Eduardo says. "I hate when you go away because I spend two weeks with nobody but my mother for company, because I don't have grandparents twenty minutes away, I don't even have a _sibling_."

Mark looks away, watching his wall intently. Eduardo turns back to the suitcase, emptying out the last compartment. "I'm so jealous of you sometimes," he admits quietly, and hears Mark take a breath behind him.

"Trade?" Mark says at last, awkwardly.

Eduardo makes a face and then sighs. "Yeah," he says, "Sorry."

Mark smiles lopsidedly at him and shoves his suitcase in the closet.

 **1999 (Kept)**

Eduardo really only kisses Mark because he really _doesn't_ want to kiss Sara Jameson. She's been kind of flirting with him since they started high school, and Eduardo is pretty sick of it.

So he grabs Mark and kisses him, and he doesn't realize how bad an idea it is until Mark gives up and stops trying to push him away. Because, objectively, Eduardo knows Mark has never kissed or touched anyone before. He knows that, but it's still weird to feel Mark freeze against him and know it's because Eduardo is the first person he's ever felt like this. Eduardo is not always a good person. He's considered Mark sexually before, it's difficult to avoid when they still share a bed, but he's always ignored it.

But now Mark is holding onto his hips like he's terrified, and Eduardo has very little time, and he's determined to make this count.

Mark makes a quiet noise Eduardo's pretty sure he isn't even aware of, and his mouth opens. Eduardo licks in gently, and Mark squirms a little, and then they're kissing for real, Mark's hands squeezing at Eduardo's hips frantically. Eduardo wants to be in Mark's room, in the quiet and the familiar, so he can tell Mark he knows he's scared and that it's okay.

And then Mark falls over, yelping, and he looks so betrayed Eduardo can't help but laugh.

He kisses him again, messy and affectionate, but the fucking timer goes off. He isn't expecting Mark to shove him away, and it's reflexive to bite, digging his fingers into Mark's jaw and trying to hold on.

He doesn't want to leave that room afterwards, even though Sara is angry and starting to kick everyone out, but Mark is sucking his lip into his mouth and he won't look at Eduardo. Natalie glares threateningly, putting her hand on Mark's knee, and Eduardo lets himself be pulled away - he'll go to Mark's house later, because even Natalie has to go home eventually.

\---

Mark's mouth is really swollen. Eduardo feels guilty, because Mark is actually trying not to talk because of the pain, and that was, all considered, a pretty awful first kiss.

The guilt doesn't stop him from going home that night and thinking about it for the first time. He thinks Mark, his voice and his hands and his mouth under Eduardo's, brand new.

Eduardo gets off to it twice. He imagines what might've happened if they'd been alone tonight, and he imagines summers in swimming pools and late night movies. He imagines early mornings in Mark's bed, what might happen if, instead of shoving Mark out in the next round of their continued rivalry over who falls out of bed first, he pulled Mark forward instead, and held him close, and kissed him all over.

He comes quickly, every time, skin tight and stomach squirmy, everything worse than it was even with Jason.

He feels horrible after - he thinks of Mark now and there's fantasies and the taste of his mouth, intertwined with memories of Mark as a child - but he can't take it back, and the want twists in his chest relentlessly.

He avoids Mark as much as he can for the next week until Mark's lip heals. Mark keeps sucking at it, worrying the bruise with his teeth, and Eduardo wants to do that and everything else.

But he never tells Mark. He keeps that secret for the next five years.

 **2000 (Shared)**

Eduardo meets Ethan at a party of a friend of a friend. The friend isn't a very good one, so Eduardo isn't expecting much from the party he attends, but Mark is gone to visit relatives before school starts.

He's pleasantly surprised to meet Ethan, ad freshman at the local community college. Ethan doesn't care that Eduardo's only going to be a senior in high school, and he's gorgeous, and by the end of the night they've spent two hours making out and agreed to meet up the next night at a nearby restaurant.

Eduardo sees him every day for the rest of break.

Mark gets back the day before school begins. He's bitching about it - "She won't even finish the laundry until next week," and "What if I can't find my backpack tomorrow morning?" - and Eduardo watches him.

It's difficult not to compare him to Ethan, with his perfect smile and stupid hairdo and tight jeans, while Mark is whiny and frumpy and still kind of scrawny. Eduardo still thinks he's adorable, but Mark is the one exception to Eduardo's type.

Mark doesn't notice him watching, of course, any more than he notices that Eduardo isn't listening.

"Mark," Eduardo says, interrupting. "I need to tell you something."

Mark glares around, frowning at him for a minute, and then keeps talking about his upcoming classes.

"I have a boyfriend," Eduardo says.

Mark keeps talking for several seconds, and Eduardo waits for his brain to catch up.

"What?" Mark snaps, turning suddenly.

"Kind of," Eduardo says.

" _What_?" Mark repeats.

"I've been seeing this guy for a couple of weeks," Eduardo says. "I met him the day after you left, we've been hanging out the last two weeks. I really like him."

Mark relaxes. "Two weeks doesn't make him your boyfriend," he says, and goes back to whatever it is he's doing.

"We're dating," Eduardo says, gritting his teeth. "And probably won't be stopping soon."

Mark rolls his eyes, which Eduardo can only see because Mark turns sideways just enough to _guarantee he'll see it_. Asshole. Just because Eduardo's other boyfriends (of which there have been two, which is not all too impressive but is still much better than Mark's track record thus far) didn't last more than a couple of months each doesn't mean they didn't count.

"I just thought you should know," Eduardo says.

"You're serious," Mark says.

"Yeah," Eduardo says.

Mark furrows his eyebrows, and Eduardo says goodbye and heads home.

\---

"So what's he like?" Mark demands the next day, after hunting Eduardo down at lunch, and Eduardo grins and tells him about Ethan.

\---

Mark covers for Eduardo.

Eduardo never meant to ask him. It was an accident that his mother called him once and caught him off-guard and he'd blurted out that lie that he was at Mark's and promised he'd come home as soon as they finished their movie. Ethan had raised an eyebrow, teasing him about who Mark was, and Eduardo had texted Mark to let him know about the lie, just in case he or his mother talked to Eduardo's mother.

He apologizes when he gets home that evening, a quick text that says _Sorry for using you as an excuse._

Mark replies _I don't care._

And he knows it's not really permission, but Eduardo chooses to take it as such. The rest of his dates with Ethan are codename: sleepover at Mark's. Mark doesn't ask what Eduardo does with Ethan, which is insulting - he assumes he knows. And despite what Mark thinks, Eduardo does actually spend time with Ethan for reasons other than sex, though the semi-regular orgasms do feature pretty high on the list of pros.

He gets caught eventually, of course, and he freaks out, and Mark puts up with all of it very well, considering.

Ethan actually handles it even better - he pats Eduardo's back, and sympathizes with his worries about his mother, and then he gives Eduardo a blowjob to top the therapy off. But the whole time Eduardo can't stop thinking of Mark, and his utterly oblivious belief that Eduardo will be fine, because there's nothing at all important or new to accept. His faith means more to Eduardo than all of Ethan's amazing support and calm.

Eduardo dumps Ethan because Ethan doesn't deserve Eduardo's complete lack of appreciation for him, and Eduardo doesn't want to be that guy.

 **2002 (Kept)**

A while after Eduardo meets Mark's roommates, they get Mark drunk and talk about their first times. Mark has been avoiding talking about Natalie, and Dustin's nosy and believes in the strategic application of alcohol.

Eduardo finds them after the fact, when the common area's a mess and Mark is curled on the couch morosely, abandoned by Chris and Dustin who were able to stagger into their room together.

"Okay, come on," he says fondly, and hauls Mark up.

Mark pushes him away, swaying on his feet. "I'm fine," he says.

"Clearly," Eduardo says, and crowds behind him in case he decides to trip.

Mark strips to his boxers shamelessly, crawling into bed.

"Did you succumb?" Eduardo asks, kicking Mark's clothes into the corner.

"Hm?" Mark says.

"To Dustin. Did you tell him about Natalie?" Eduardo sits on the very edge of the bed, grabbing some Tylenol out of the bottle in the nightstand drawer. Mark is quiet for a minute, until Eduardo leans over to peer at his face and check that yes, he is still awake.

"Yeah," Mark says. "He's persistent."

"Sorry," Eduardo says, smiling. "You should've seen it coming."

Mark makes a sound like a sigh.

"At least it's over now," Eduardo says, and stands up. "I'm going back to my room. Text me tomorrow, yeah?"

"He's still going to tease me," Mark says. "But not as bad as Chris."

"Why?"

"Chris admitted he's never been fucked," Mark slurs, and pulls part of his pillow over his head. "Dustin told him he was a failure as a gay man."

"What?" Eduardo asks, eyebrows going up.

"Yeah, I don't think Chris is speaking to him right now," Mark says. "He's not mad at me for once. I told Dustin you'd never done that either, and that didn't make you any less gay."

The last time Eduardo talked to Mark about sex, he had just dumped Ethan and sworn off all dating until he went to college. Eduardo hasn't deliberately kept anything from Mark, but it doesn't ever really come up.

"Uh," Eduardo says. "You're right, but I actually have--"

But Mark mumbles _shhh_ at him, and when he keeps breathing slow and even Eduardo turns out the light and leaves the dorm.

 **2006 (Shared)**

Eduardo spends almost two months trying to get Mark to admit when he fell in love with Eduardo.

"Sophomore year," is his first guess, "right after I kissed you."

"No," Mark says plainly, and Eduardo cannot tell whether that means he fell in love later or earlier, only that it wasn't right then.

"Sixth grade," is his next guess. "When I convinced that bully that your father really was a CIA agent and would kill him if he touched you again."

Mark snorts at that, taking the beer Eduardo is holding out, and says, "Not even close."

The next several dozen of guesses - everything from "the moment we met" to "when I started dating guys" - get varying shades of amusement or annoyance, depending upon how ridiculous Mark thinks Eduardo's being.

"I don't know," Eduardo admits finally, and presses his head against Mark's shoulder. Mark smells like clean sweat and dirty clothes and caffeine, and Eduardo probably only has another five minutes before he leaves bed and stumbles naked to his desk. "I have honestly no idea."

"I know," Mark says.

"Tell me?" Eduardo says.

"Two weekends after you told me you liked me," Mark says. "That Friday night at the bar the weekend after we went home."

"What?" Eduardo asks. He barely remembers the night Mark is talking about, and not because he was drunk - because it was absolutely nothing special.

"We were at the bar and a girl was hitting on you, too drunk and stupid to realize you could not have been less interested. You put up with her for half an hour so you could tell her how great I was and how you thought she should ask me out."

"Yeah?" Eduardo says. "I've done that a lot."

Mark says, "You were putting up with her because I told you I thought she was hot." He shrugs. "It was the first time I realized you would hurt yourself to make me happy. It was difficult to ignore."

"So you fell in love with me because I was self-sacrificing?" Eduardo asks, smiling.

Mark twists around, dislodging Eduardo's grip on him so he can stare directly at Eduardo. "No," he says. "I realized I was in love with you because it pissed me off that you would let me hurt you."

Eduardo could point out that he's let Mark do that plenty of times, but it doesn't seem like the appropriate moment. He also doesn't say how amazing Mark is, because Mark already knows Eduardo thinks so. He kisses him instead, deep and wet, and gets a hand on his still-soft cock, and remembers his grandmother's wedding band, waiting in his bedside drawer ever since his mother gave it to him two years ago.

Even if Mark hasn't accidentally found it already, it won't be a secret for long.

End.


End file.
